The conclusion drawn from this examination of the historical record is emphatically stated at the end of Federalist 20 (a paper sometimes attributed jointly to Hamilton and James Madison)--namely, "that a sovereignty over sovereigns, a government over governments, a legislation for communities, as contradistinguished from individuals, as it is a solecism in theory, so in practice it is subversive of the order and ends of civil polity, by substituting violence in place of the mild and salutary coercion of the magistracy.

Berg's Lyric Suite is too wispy to support frenetic dance, and it was a solecism to tack one of Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder onto the final, reconciliatory bars of Verklarte Nacht, the Schoenberg work that dancelovers will associate with Antony Tudor's great Pillar of Fire.

Tielessness, admittedly, is also absent, which many might consider a worse sartorial solecism than socklessness, but tielessness is surely more of a fashion statement, while socklessness tends to be a matter forced upon a fellow by the vagaries of washing machines or the inherent turmoil of wardrobe drawers.

Incidentally, it's interesting to see the way that this sort of solecism is defended on the grounds that "it's a living language" - because this is itself a minor miracle, as it's murdered a million times a day.

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